Sameer Karnik arrested for non-payment of Rs 1.18 cr as service tax

Sameer, who had directed Sunny Deol-Dharmendra’s Yamla Pagla Deewana was later ousted from the sequel. He also ran into trouble with Tusshar Kapoor who starred in his film Chaar Din Ki Chandni over non-payment of dues (for around Rs 1.75 crore).

According to insiders, yesterday afternoon Karnik was summoned to the Service Tax office at Churchgate under the supervision of Service Tax Commisioner R Shekhar to explain his stand on trying to evade coughing up the amount.

Says a source, “When they weren’t satisfied with his explanation, they arrested him. His lawyers were trying to procure a bail for him.”At the time of going to press, an amount of Rs 2 lakh was being arranged to bail Karnik out. A similar notice has also been sent to Deol for an outstanding amount of Rs 2 crore. Deol has apparently now cleared Rs 86 lakh and has had his statement recorded.